Michael interviews Alex Zhavoronkov
[Interview Part 2 & 3 Below] The idea that by helping people live healthier and longer lives we can also greatly help the global economy is, I find, very intriguing. This is the thesis of Alex Zhavoronkov’s book “The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy“. He lays out the case that we need to focus on the right kind of biomedical research – that is research into anti-aging and rejuvenation versus research on how to make the terminally ill live a few more months longer – what he calls “the last mile”.
Some of the obstacles in getting this done include the current medical system that focuses on treating disease instead of preventative medicine. Also, the powerful pharmaceutical and fast-food lobbies continue to cloud the right agenda. However, a growing number of researchers around the world like Alex Zhavoronkov represent a powerful new force of distributed and networked scientific research that will I believe prevail in pushing the important anti-aging research and agendas forward.
While here at www.RetirementSingularity.com I focus on mostly personal impacts and financial strategies, I think it is important to know that the coming revolution in healthy life extension can have a big global “Dividend” – which is actually referred to in our discussion and in Alex’s book as the “Longevity Dividend”. So just think, by optimizing your health and taking advantage of the future anti-aging and rejuvenation therapies, not only will you live long enough to see the extraordinary future just emerging, but also by your actions and by your example you will help prevent the world from sinking into the huge debt quagmire. That quagmire will just get too deep given an aging and ill global population.
By delaying the medically very expensive last years of life, and helping people stay happy and productive longer, the global economic shot in the arm is indeed quite profound. Recent studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of extending healthy life, but a sea-change of research focus and cultural re-definition of aging and retirement will also be needed. Here at RetirementSingularity.com, I am sharing my ideas on how you can adjust your thinking towards a new framework of how your life will unfold.
Here are Part 2 and Part 3 of my interview with anti-aging researcher and author Alex Zhavonkov:
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Part 2 discusses anti-aging research and funding, the challenges of helping people choose healthier lifestyles and countering the influence of fast food and tobacco lobbies, how change in a nation’s attitudes towards health extension will ultimately occur, and why personally investing in continual learning and health optimization is key for all individuals.
Link to Alex’s new book = http://goo.gl/LHAbF5
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Here is the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i59IVM1aNvg
In Part 3 we discuss;
– The Longevity Dividend
– Acceleration of biomedical progress
– The International Aging Research Portfolio
– Good & Bad types of biomedical progress (last-mile vs anti-aging)
– How health extension extends productivity and helps avoid global financial crisis
– Need for a focus on getting rejuvenation research into the clinic
– What is next for Alex Zhavoronkov
– “Personalized Science” a paradigm for anti-aging research
Links:
Alex on Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/biogerontology
The International Aging Research Portfolio http://agingportfolio.org
Michael on Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/retirementsingularity
If you missed Part 1, here is the link to that;
http://www.retirementsingularity.com/ageless-generation-interview-with-alex-zhavoronkov/
May you live long, live well and prosper,
Michael
